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I'm Irish, and hence speak Hiberno-English. Here is a photograph of some sliced bread:

sliced bread

The topmost slice of this (that's crust on the end), is called "the heel". Is this meaning for "heel" understood in British English?

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2  
It's the heel in American English too. – jimreed Aug 16 '11 at 17:25
@rory -- it's the "doupie", do you use that one? – Joe Blow Aug 16 '11 at 20:16
Another interesting more American one is "butt-end". Also for the, well, butt-end of perhaps a ham or other roast meat. (The last, or perhaps first, slice.) – Joe Blow Aug 16 '11 at 20:20
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I'm English and when I first met my Irish wife this one caused confusion / hilarity, especially when combined with the Irish term 'pan' for a loaf of bread e.g. "can you get me the heel from that pan" – tinyd Aug 17 '11 at 9:13
No, we don't know the term "doupie". Although "butt-end" would not be used, a person might reason it out. Also this question is inspired by a similar mixed marriage. – Rory Aug 17 '11 at 14:06

4 Answers

up vote 5 down vote

I wouldn't use it myself, but I have heard it - though in a slightly different sense. I wouldn't understand "the piece of a sliced loaf that happens to be the crust" so much as "an unsliced loaf from which all but a couple of slices have been cut".

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Interesting. They have unsliced bread in England? Next you'll be telling me it isn't white and as squishy as Play-Doh either. :-) – T.E.D. Aug 16 '11 at 22:40
I had no choice but buy a sliced loaf on Sunday, because that was all they had left before they closed (yes, our mediaeval laws mean that even 24-hour stores have to close for most of Sunday). But it's a long time since the last time I did. – Colin Fine Aug 17 '11 at 13:33
up vote 4 down vote

Yes, it is understood in British English too; one of the meaning of heel reported by the NOAD and the OED is the following:

a crusty end of a loaf of bread, or the rind of a cheese.

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I would say it's only known in BE as an American import. I never heard it in northern English before living in the USA – mgb Oct 20 '11 at 4:17
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Well, OED has it in Piers Plowman 1362, a bit early for an American import... – GEdgar Jun 30 '12 at 17:18
up vote 4 down vote

Further to what others have said, I (growing up in London and York) was familiar with heel to mean that slice, but it wasn’t common — the usual term for that slice was the crust. (So crust had a dual meaning for us — both the outside of the bread in general, and the slice at either end that consists mostly of crust.)

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I would certainly agree with crust. Lived most of my life in North-East England and have never heard the term heel before and wouldn't have had a clue what you were talking about. Straw-poll of those nearby suggests it's NOT a commonly understood phrase (out of a dozen people, only an Irishman had heard it before) – SteveM Aug 16 '11 at 18:18
For the record PLL, I have never ever heard the doupie called the "crust". (i.e., have never, ever, heard the dual meaning you describe.) So perhaps, very regional? – Joe Blow Aug 16 '11 at 20:18
Interesting — yes, perhaps! And I in turn have never heard doupie — where does that term come from? – PLL Aug 17 '11 at 2:08
up vote 0 down vote

I'm Irish but my parents are English. I'd certainly understand heel, but in our house it's called the dobie end. I have no idea what the origin of that phrase is.

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